Media Manager: Bella Kiessel
Press Release: April 2023
Taking place on April 7th from 3:30-7:00 pm at CSUN's USU Northridge Center, ARCS’ Fourth Annual Lift-Off Event is an opportunity for students, faculty, and industry leaders to network with one another and showcase their research projects.
The two themes of the event are to encourage underserved and underrepresented students from all disciplines to pursue careers in NASA/STEM careers and engage in NASA missions such as Artemis; and to celebrate 35+ transdisciplinary, autonomy-related research projects that the students have been working with NASA/JPL engineers and scientists this year.
One of our outstanding research projects to be presented at the Lift-Off Event is CoStar/Nebula Science Communication. Led by Joe Bautista, ARCS Associate Director, Ali-akbar Agha-mohammadi, JPL, Roslene Villalon, Erica Bettencourt, Andila Wijekulasuriya and Youjin Shin, this project’s goal is to further the development of explanation of AI concepts of their NeBula system. Their NeBula system has been under development by CoStar to address the uncertainty of different elemental differences in missions.
Attendees include CSUN provost, Dr. Meera Komarraju, our founding director, Dr. Nhut Ho, our keynote speaker, and Aerospace Corp Vice President, Dr. Debra L.Emmons. Over 300 guests made up by NASA and JPL industry leaders, news outlets, and CSUN students attended this event. During the event, guests participated in fun activities, learned about the variety of student-led research projects, and enjoyed delicious food. “[As a member of the California State University Autonomy Research Center for STEAHM External Research Advisory Committee, speaking for and on behalf of ARCS students is an honorable opportunity as I am given leverage to guide the next generation of NASA representatives]”, said Dr. Debra L. Emmons. “[ARCS has seen an immensely successful year, with prospects in increasing visibility, industry partnerships, research projects, and sending our fellows to NASA and JPL internships,” said Dr. Nhut Ho. “Our prospects for next year are to form more industry leader partnerships and continue to provide our fellows internship opportunities.]” ARCS continues to prevail as a leader in providing students opportunities to explore and contribute to transdisciplinary research, providing them with leverage towards a future career in leading STEAHM industries.
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About ARCS:
Founded in 2019, ARCS’ vision is to initiate and foster innovative convergence research collaborations for its students and faculty in STEAHM (science, technology, engineering, arts, humanities, mathematics) disciplines. ARCS is made up of a strong team of associates, faculty, fellows led by a leadership team of 11 staff members. Among the 26 associates, 27 diverse mentors and researchers, as well as the 26 fellows, ARCS is continually granting opportunities for students looking for a career in a STEAHM field, in addition to career prospects for its faculty members. Our mission is to continually provide research opportunities for students, thereby developing their convergence leadership skills and enhancing their career endeavors.